The almanac

Today is Thursday, June 12, the 164th day of 2008 with 202 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus. The evening stars are Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include John Augustus Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1806; former U.S. President George H.W. Bush in 1924 (age 84); singer Vic Damone in 1928 (age 80); Anne Frank, whose diary told of hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland, in 1929; author Rona Jaffe in 1932; actor/singer Jim Nabors in 1930 (age 78); jazz musician Chick Corea in 1941 (age 67); sportscaster Marv Albert in 1943 (age 65) and actor Timothy Busfield in 1957 (age 51).

On this date in history:

In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated at Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1963, a sniper killed civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss.

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not outlaw interracial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon, married Edward Finch Cox in the first wedding in the Rose Garden of the White House.

In 1979, Bryan Allen, 26, pedaled the 70-pound Gossamer Albatross 22 miles across the English Channel for the first human-powered flight across that body of water.

In 1982, an estimated 700,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to call for world nuclear disarmament.

In 1986, the South African government, faced with rising black unrest, declared a nationwide state of emergency.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that white workers who claim to be treated unfairly as a result of affirmative action programs can sue for remedies under civil rights legislation.

In 1990, the Russian republic's legislature, under Boris Yeltsin, passed a radical declaration of sovereignty, proclaiming Russia's laws take precedence over those of the central Soviet government in the republic's territory.

In 1991, the Russian republic had its first direct presidential elections with Boris Yeltsin winning. The event is celebrated in Russia as a national holiday known as Independence Day.

In 1992, amid extremely tight security and criticism of his administration's stand on environmental issues, U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the Earth Summit, urging rich nations to take specific action on a climate treaty by year's end.

In 1993, U.S. helicopters and gunships destroyed four of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid's arms depots, one week after his forces allegedly killed 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in a series of firefights.

In 1994, special counsel Robert Fiske took sworn depositions from U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton about the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. It was believed to be the first time a sitting president responded directly to questions in a legal case relating to his official conduct.

In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, son of the former president, announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2000 election.

In 2000, 50 years after the Korean War began the leaders of North and South Korea met in Pyongyang for the first series of talks.

In 2003, television news pioneer David Brinkley, one half of the legendary Huntley-Brinkley evening news team and host of the long-running Sunday public affairs program This Week, died at his home in Houston. He was 82.

Also in 2003, at least 70 Iraqis were killed in a U.S. attack on a terrorist camp near Saddam Hussein's hometown.

In 2005, Time magazine reported a secret document showing the use of pressure tactics in the interrogation of a suspected al-Qaida leader by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2007, U.S. Senate Democrats narrowly failed to get a vote of no-confidence on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who has faced intense criticism for the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.

Also in 2007, Sudanese government officials agreed to allow a joint peacekeeping force of about 19,000 troops from the African Union and the United Nations to be deployed in war-torn Darfur.

And, scavengers looking for scrap metal at an old Japanese World War II base in China came across 3,500 buried bombs. Experts said the bombs, which were hauled away safely, could have caused widespread damage had they exploded.

A thought for the day: T.S. Eliot said, "In my beginning is my end."